At least 20 dead in tank truck explosion in Lebanon | Lebanon

Lebanon, hit by what the World Bank calls one of the world’s worst economic crises since the 1850s, struggles with growing poverty and shortages of basic items such as medicines and fuel .

The Lebanese military said on Saturday it had seized thousands of gallons of gasoline and diesel that distributors were storing in pumps across the country, and last week saw multiple incidents of tanker hijacking.

Hospitals have warned they are running out of fuel and may be forced to shut down, as many people only have two hours of electricity a day.

The Akkar explosion comes less than two weeks after Lebanon marked the first anniversary of an explosion in the port of Beirut last summer that left more than 200 dead.

On August 4, 2020, a randomly stored stockpile of ammonium nitrate fertilizers exploded and left parts of the capital looking like a war zone.

It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.

During the following year, no one responsible was held responsible for this explosion.

The Akkar massacre is no different from the port massacre, former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Twitter, calling on Lebanese officials, including the president, to take responsibility and step down.

Hariri is the main Sunni Muslim politician, the dominant religion in northern Lebanon, and has openly opposed Lebanese President Michel Aoun.

Gebran Bassil, who heads the party founded by Aoun, wrote on Twitter that our hearts are with the families of Altalil and Akkar tonight.